


Have You Heard Of The Tale About The Selkie

by Writing_Puffin



Category: Daredevil (Comics), Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Fae & Fairies, Family, Feelings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Magic, Selkies, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Song of the Sea AU, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28078932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_Puffin/pseuds/Writing_Puffin
Summary: It can be hard for someone to unknowingly try and raise a Selkies, in New York of all places. Especially when you got two of them running around. But as the Fates would make it, this was Jack’s life. And he is trying to make the best of it.
Relationships: Jonathan "Jack" Murdock & Matt Murdock & Mike Murdock, Jonathan "Jack" Murdock/Margaret Murdock, Matt Murdock & Mike Murdock
Kudos: 1





	Have You Heard Of The Tale About The Selkie

**Author's Note:**

> Before I rumble a bit I just want to give a big thank you to Bluenightbeat on Ao3 also known as Sucrosesorcery on tumblr for helping me and beta this fic, I think it turned out great, it was a giant help. If you like good art they are an amazing artist so you should check them out. 
> 
> Just selkies. Selkies are most why I wrote this. This fic was also inspired by deniigiq’ Selkie Verse, I love that series. Also just my love of anything magic, selkies and the song of the sea.

“Boys, boys, slow down!” Jack tried to reel in his two little monsters. They were both trying to pull on one of his hands. He could feel them slipping free, being that they were still small enough for their hands to wiggle them loose.

“But he will get the window seat and he got it last time!” Matt cried, pulling Jack’s hand and tugging him across the subway platform.

“No, I didn’t. Matty was the one who got the window seat!” Mike shrilled and joined Matt in the contest to see who can pull Jack’s arm out of his arm socket the fastest.

Spoiler: they both had to hold onto Jack so they both will get there at the same time. That is unless one does manage to get away from him.

“Daddd! Who had the window last time! They both try to ask him at the same time. Somehow being louder than the subway car pulling in.

Ugh, they got him there. Jack did not pay attention enough to say who had the window seat. He just remembered they both were finally quiet down as they stared out the window. The only challenge then was him trying to get both of them to sit down properly.

“Hey, hey, both of you slow down. The doors are starting to close already. We aren’t going to make that.” Jack tried, but there was no reasoning with the boys. Even when the heavy metal door was the other opponent, but Jack should know better by now. Him being a stubborn man with two stubborn sons.

They made it onto the subway car right before the doors were able to close on Jack. He let out a breath, walking farther into the car.

“Hey, wait, both of you.” Jack tried to reach for the boys, both slipping out of his hold, both now racing to get a seat.

Jack could only grab hold of the loop on Matt’s backpack to get him to stop running. This caused Mike to become the victor of the window seat game and Matt to start pouting.

“Daddd.’ He whined, trying to twist out of his hold.

“You can get first dibs on the way back, I promise.” Jack attempted to make light of the situation.

“But Mike,” Matt whined while he outsmarted Jack by slipping his arms out of his backpack straps and met Mike at the window. His steps were wobbly from the sudden start of the car.

Jack made his way over to the free seats Mike had found, now carrying his sports bag over his shoulder and Matt’s small backpack in his hand. “But Mike needs to actually sit in his seat.” Jack interrupted, getting to the booth and reaching a free hand out to lightly push on Mike's shoulder to get him to sit in the seat instead of kneeling on it. He was already staring intensely outside.

Matt hopped up right next to Mike trying to move around me to get a peak of the bay.

Jack just sighed. Doing anything now would be fruitless.

“Aww, are you three taking a day trip? Those two seem awfully excited.” Jack turned around to an older woman who had wrinkles by her eyes that show how many years she has seen; their creases only added to the soft smile that she couldn’t help but get when she looked at Matt and Mike who were both now glued to the window.

“They are just amused by the sea; they really like it.” Jack explained to the woman. Not really knowing what to say or how to describe it.

“Do they like to read?” She then asks Jack. At this, he notices the semi thick book she held in her lap.

“Umm-” Jack just looked at her. The boys know how to read fine; they come home with good enough scores on their reading tests. And Jack does try to sit them down to read as a family. The problem comes from just trying to get them to sit still long enough to read.

“I had kids; Most usually have that thing that they are obsessed with. Mine really liked plants, and what I did was I tried to find him books on that topic. He read all of them. It really upped his reading levels. You might want to give that a try, it couldn’t hurt. And they might learn something new.” The woman said kindly to him.

Jack mind jumped into thinking where he could get them books? Then his brain helpfully reminded him that there was a library not that far from where the gym was. They could stop there before the match and he can see if they would read a book while he was warming up. Hopefully, that would keep them busy. Jack quickly looked back up to the woman, realizing he was off thinking for too long. “You know what, I might give that a try, thank you.”

“No problem.'' She smiled at him, and after looking at the boys one last time, she went back to her own book

Jack looked at his boys again, happy that at least he had a plan that might help all of them.

==

In only a few short days, the boys devoured all the books Jack had checked out for them from the library. So, they took another trip, this time just for the boys. Not to some match a city over but just to the library, and if Jack counted, he hah just enough so they could stop at the ice cream shop, not even a block away.

After those first couple of books, Mike found one on sea creatures and had asked for help to find more books about those. Then when one of Matt’s walks through the kids’ section led to them finding a book about magical sea creatures, they were hooked.

These books became their favorites, checking them out over and over until Jack went on the hunt to the teen and adults’ section to find them something new. This was where he found books about more creatures and mythology. All these books ending up being something the whole family would enjoy. It ending up being all of them on the couch, all of them taking turns reading.

They became bedtime stories, books Jack found laying around the house, under covers, under pillows even. It even got to the point where he had to ask them to leave the books out of the kitchen as they sat one in front of them both, and they spatter food over the pages and soaked the paper.

Jack tried to keep up and learn about all the information with the boys, but they lived and breathed the stories. They came up with stories of their own with their imagination using anything they could find in the house to do so.

==

“Hey!” Mike called when he watched Matt walk out of their room, their selkie blanket draped over him. The end of the blanket dragging along the floor. “I’m the selkie!” He rushed over to grab at the blanket.

“No! I’m the selkie this time, you were the selkie last time.” Matt argued.

“You’re the hero. I’m the selkie.” Mike tries again to pull the selkie blanket off of Matt.

The so-called selkie blanket itself was not that special, it was an old thing. although it was soft it had holes and rips from overused, and it was a faded brown color or a so-called seal color by the twins, so they used it when they are playing fairytale.

They had found it when going through Jack’s things when trying to find something to be the coat for a Selkie, and he had let them keep it. It was big and it was fluffy. And most importantly it was warm the boys loving to wrap themselves in it even when not playing. And this is what was happening now.

“Let go of it!”

“No! I have to be the selkie!”

“We are both selkies!” Matt yelled; they both grew in volume, attracting the attention of dad from the other room.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong? Both of you stop.” Jack tried, putting a hand in between them.

“Matty wouldn’t let me be the selkie!” Mike stated first.

“We weren’t even playing, and I can be a selkie if I want to!”

“Okay” Jack breathed out, a bit unsure still of how this whole selkie thing works “Can’t you two share it?”

“No!” The twins yelled at the same time.

“A selkie uses their coat to change into a seal, two seals can’t use the same coat.” Matt tries to explain as he yanks the coat out of Mike’s hands. When he was successful, he ran behind Jack to hide.

“Yeah, and it’s my coat” Mike tried to go after Matt

“It's not your coat!” Matt said from behind Jack.

“I see, but there’s something you two aren’t thinking about,” Jack says trying to wing this idea and hoping it will work.

“What is it?” The twins again said at the same time, being a bit creepy.

“You two are super special selkies. Selkies that can share one coat.”

“We can?” They said with wonderment in their eyes.

“Yess-” Jack stressed the word, hoping they wouldn’t think too much about it. He carefully took the blanket off of Matt and herded both to the couch. “You two have special twin magic.”

“Now you two be good selkies,” Jack said, wrapping the blanket around them. “Dinner is almost ready, but afterwards we can play a game, okay?”

“Yay!” They cheer, both curling into the blanket.

Jack walked back to the small kitchen, he wished they were both just cranky from being tired and hoped they would both pass out for a nap until dinner is done.

===

“Mikey! stop eating the fairy circle. Who knows what the fae will do to you?” Matt, who was standing on the couch with a small blanket tied around his neck as a cape, called down to his brother, who was on the floor.

Mike was sitting on their selkie blanket wrapped around himself. Setting a marshmallow back down in their makeshift fairy circle. “If the fairies don’t want me eating their circles, they shouldn’t make them so yummy.” He called over to Matt. Mike eyed the marshmallows again he was so tempted now to eat more.

“You were the one to pick these out.” Matt countered.

“Dad said not to leave the apartment, and we didn't have enough rocks, so I improvised. Mike deferred, taking his time to make sure he said the last words correctly. It was a long one and dad just told him how to say it right.

Matt wanted to argue back, but he was cut off as Jack opened the door and walked in. “What do you mean not enough rocks? Are you two hiding rocks in your room- Again? Jack asked the boys as he closed the door behind him, setting his bag down by the entrance

Both Mike and Matt just yelped.

Mike hit the floor, wrapping the fluffy blanket around him tighter and wiggled under the big blue blanket they had placed on the floor that was acting as their sea.

Matt hopped off the couch and rushed over to Dad and held his empty paper towel roll up to him.

“What are you two doing.” Jack said slowly to them

“Am protecting the Selkie.” Matt voiced proudly.

“Selkie?” Dad questioned them.

Mike pops his head out of the blanket from his spot on the floor. “Am the great selkie from the sea”

“Selkie- '' Jack tried again, he looked back down to Matt, watching him pretend to hit him with the paper towel roll and looked back at Mike. And with that he finally noticed the floor, he must have noticed it as the blanket Mike was using was soaking wet, so really it was only a matter of time.

Jack then hurried to the bathroom. The twins following. He just set his head into his hands. The tub was overflowing. The tap was off so that was good, but it was full to the rim with some of the water having splash over the sides, leading to a giant trail that went all the way to the living room.

He stood there, unsure what to do. He knew he had to clean it, but he just got home.

“Do you want to play selkie with us?” Mike asked in a small voice.

Jack looked at them in turn, they both had on puppy dog eyes. He thought for a moment.

“Okay.” He started out slowly “but first we need to make some more land.” He walked over to the small hallway closet to the boys not far behind. Mike’s blanket and Matt’s cape dragging on the floor.

Jack pulled out a few towels and handed them to the twins. “We need to make land from the living room to the tub.” The boys just looked at him. “We need to make sure the selkie can get back to the water if he needs to.” The boys lighten up rushing to do their job. Jack watches after them hoping neither one slips and gets hurt. But he is glad the see they were helping to clean up some of the water.

Then he spotted the new trail of water formed from Mike himself, dropping the last towel Jack held, he slipped his shoes off and shuffled the towel across the floor, collecting most of the water they had missed.

When all that was said and done, with the towels soaking up some of the water that was all over the place. Jack lowered himself to the floor and scooted close to Mike, trying to get himself or at least a part of himself under the blanket.

He jokingly asked Mike in a small voice “How do I play selkie?”

Mike giggled “I’ll tell you dad, don’t worry.” Matt hoped back up onto the couch, acting as if he was marching over a mountain.

____

When Jack walked in, the apartment was quiet. Almost too quiet.

The apartment was not usually this silent. Always something beeping, ticking, giggling, even when the boys were supposed to be sleeping. At first, he thought the boys might have listened to him for once and went to bed before he got home.

But then he remembered his boys. And he knows they would not do that.

He made his way down the hallway, footsteps attempting to be soft. He then reached a door covered in many random drawings with a messy attempt of a sign that was placed right in the middle. That says Matt and Mike: the letters being random sizes and colors.

The door was open just a crack, letting him hear tiny voices coming from inside. He stood at the edge, one more step and they would have seen him at the door frame, he places his ear close to the wall to listen in on the boys.

“I want to be a selkie!” Jack hears Mike say, his voice getting excited at the words selkie.

“I don't-” Matt told Mike. Jack tried to think back and thought they both loved being the selkie in their made-up stories. He quickly went back to listening in trying to focus so he did not miss anything.

“What?” Mike's voice getting a bit louder than the whispers they were using. “Why not?” Mike said like it the craziest thing Matt had said to him. Jack let a little smile appear on his face at their antics

“Matty, think of the sea, the water moving around you, the magic.” Mike tried to reason with his twin, voice filled with wonder.

Matt cut him off. “Think about it, Mikey. Dad’s not a selkie, and he doesn’t act like one. He would have taken us to the sea by now too. That means mom has to be the selkie.”

This takes Jack aback for a second. he hasn't told them anything about Maggie.  _ But that’s normal, right? For kids to question this, if they don’t know. That means they are thinking. So that  _ is _ good right? Just them thinking about their mom. And even try to add her into their little stories. _

Then he thought of the wording they were using _. They don’t seem like they are talking about one of their stories. They’re talking as if they’re really magic _ . And again, Jack thought.  _ This is normal, right? Kids and their imagination and all of that? Should he ask the guys at the gym? _

Jack missed something that they said, but he got the tail end of Mike speaking “So, mom could have been a lovely selkie who got called back to the sea. Like that fairy.” He spoke with a hesitation in his voice like he didn’t believe himself, but he wanted it to be true.

Matt counters that idea, “But she is not a fairy, she would long for the sea too. We don’t even know how she would have gotten to the Kitchen.” He stopped and then, in an uncertain voice that Jack strained to hear, “You don’t think dad could have stolen her coat and made her come, do you?”

Mike didn’t think; he just let out a quick “no” as an answer.

Matt went on, “Dad would never do that. That’s why she can’t be a selkie.”

“She could have come on land on her own to check it out” Mike tried.

“Selkies don’t like land. There are not many stories of them coming willingly,” Matt added.

“But, but maybe she was another sea-“Mike was saying before Jack spooked them.

He did not mean to. They just got quieter, and he took a step closer. He was now partway into the door frame, and he accidentally knocked on the door, and it sent a soft thud echoing the room. Jack could just about make out a little flashlight coming from under the covers turn off, and the room went dead silent.

Jack knew that was as much as he would get from them. He thought for a moment about whether or not he should kiss them good night.

He walked in slowly, careful to not step on anything and act as if he just came home and not standing by the door.

He got to the bottom bunk bed, and he left the covers back so they could breathe. He kissed them lightly on the head and whispered a good night.

He was just about to leave when he made the decision to get Mike’s blanket from his bed and draped it over them too. So, if they fight for the blanket when they actually fall asleep, they both would have one.

==

Jack sighed softly at the sight he saw when he walked back into the tiny room. The light from the hall trying to rush in with him. It is a harsh contrast to the light glowing coming from the window.

Matt was as he left him and Mike. Well, he was still sitting in the chair by the bed, eyes barely open. Jack had gone to go get some coffee, feeling like he would need it. He walked in making sure to be quiet.

The doctor’s words of Matt needing to rest echoing his brain. And from the look of Mike and from Jack having raised both of them. He knew that, if Mike didn’t sleep now, he would just wear himself out even more until his body couldn’t take it.

The room was filled up with the beeping of Matt’s heart monitor and the slight sound coming from his coffee swishing in the to go cup.

Jack got to the other side of the bed and gently tapped Mike’s shoulder to see how much of him was still awake or if he was out like a light.

He thought Mike was out, so the little response to the tap was a tiny bit of a shock.

“When-” Mike yawned. “We get to... to the sea.” His head tilted forward, his body going with the movement before he quickly lifted it back up.

“Mikey,” Jack said softly. He didn’t get an answer this time. He took the seat closest to Matt. This was when Mike woke more forcefully.

“Hey... that’s my- mine.” He tried still drawing out his words from the sleep, getting louder with each attempt at speaking.

“Shhhh-” Jack tried, knowing if Mike got too loud, he would wake up Matt and he didn’t want that to happen.

“Come here, bud.” Jack set his coffee on the little table that was at the foot of Matt’s bed. And he opened his arms to Mike. Mike sluggishly made his way into them and onto his lap, draping himself over Jack’s legs.

“You're getting too big for this.” Jack teased. But in the quiet room, it was like if he was joking to himself, and it was not like he didn’t need this just as much as Mike did.

Jack brushed some of Mike’s hair behind his ear. Remembering how much they love the feeling.

“Your hair is getting long.” Jack said in a voice so low it might as well have been in his head.

Jack looked over to Matt who looked so peaceful in the bed, even with the bandage covering his head, his mouth was slightly open, and his brow was relaxed.

Jack’s eyes lingered to his chest, he watched Matt breathe, his still small chest rise and lower.

It rises.

It lowers.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Jack started to follow along in his own breathing now self-conscious about it. He tried to look back up to Matt’s face.

Jack reaches out and brushes some of Matt’s hair as well, just like Mike’s. He could just about hear a little sigh escape before Matt moved in his sleep a bit closer to Jack.

Jack smiled at his boys. He then looked up to the door that shielded them from the light of the hallway, the closed door that muted the outside world. He could just about make out the shoes of the doctors and nurses passing by their shadows blocking out even more of the light.

But the calm and ease of this moment doesn’t heal the ache that was this afternoon. The memories that will hide in the back of his mind.

Every person thinks they are tough until the moment they break, and Jack thought he was tough, everyone has told him so but that was until he heard Mike scream for him.

Just that single use of his name broke his heart and tore down all his walls at once until just like Mike he was like a child running to get help.

And when they were trying to get Matt out of the harbor after he fell in, Jack could have sworn that his heart stopped working for those tedious seconds, he remembers the feeling of ice in his veins as they finally pulled Matt up, breathing shallow, heart beating muted, unconscious to the world. Jack had feared the worse and his mind was thinking a mile a minute. He just saw the watered-down blood dripping and his hair sticking to his head. Jack had to hold Mike and himself back from getting in the way of the medics.

He wanted to, needed to hold both of them tight then, but if there was a chance that they could save Matt, he would hold as strong as he could even if he is that single strand of grass in a hurricane of emotions.

He remembered how his heart felt like it was being ripped out when it was Matt’s turn to be the one yelling his name down the hall. Him sounding so scared. Jack took a shaky breath even now, just thinking of the shrill voice that ringed in his ears. He desperately wanted to be there with him.

Jack wrapped an arm over Mike, and with his other free hand, he grabbed Matt's and held it gently, trying to reassure him.

They will overcome this. It’s what Murdocks do.

This was just them getting knocked down. They aren’t out of the fight yet.

Not if Jack had anything to say about it.

Mike shifted into Jack a bit more. Partly hanging off of Jack's lap but somehow staying where he was. Jack looks back down at Matt.

Mike breathed out, “Matty-”

Just like when they were little, and Jack was trying to get them to sleep in separated beds, desperate arms reaching for each other.

Oh, Jack would give anything to just wrap the two of them in their soft blankets, protecting them from the world, and let them rest fully for once without worry.

“Yes, I know buddy. Matty is okay- he is going to get better I promise.” Jack whispered, using the hand that was wrapped around Mike to lightly pet at his head.

“Needsss. He, he needs the-” Mike tried again, eyes close tight, head pushing against Jack’s chest. “The... sea-”

Jack didn’t know what to say.

“It will- make him happy.” Mike finally finishes very sleepily.

Jack just patted his head some more and held him close. He was unsure how likely Matt was to get back into the water after what happened.

But he knows before long Matt will be right back out there with Mikey.

He had to.

====

Jack looked down to his watch, the bright dull numbers of the old thing said 1:36 am.

“I think that means we should get going,” Jack said softy out loud to Mike who was out cold. It was mostly to fill the silent room, so the air didn’t feel so stale.

He gently slipped his hand out of Matt’s watching him as he did so, hurting a bit that he had to go and leave him here.

After his eyes linger on Matt just a bit longer, he wraps his arms around Mike and picks him up.

“Whoa there, someone is getting heavy.” Jack teases a bit. He knows that they have gotten too big to get picked up and carried. But- he has some of that extra muscle and the will to want to hold them like this one last time.

He also had the feeling in the back of his mind that Mike needs to feel secure after today. Jack could at last help with that and hold him.

He shifts Mike momentarily to his hip so he could lean over and give Matt one last forehead kiss good night, before leaving. He rested his hand on his head just a bit. Seeing how warm Matt feels now, compared to when they had pulled him out of the water, he was like a fire trying to rage on after being doused in water.

He held Mike closely too. Making it count for not being able to hold Matt when he needed it. Mike rested his head on his shoulder. Still oblivious to the living world.

Jack turned to go, adjusting Mike so he was easier to hold and so he was able to grab his coffee to throw it away.

He carefully walked over to the door bracing himself for the bright light. He reaches for the handle when it suddenly swings out quickly and someone runs into him.

Instinctively, he made sure Mike was okay. He was still passed out. Jack held him closer. Then he looked down to see if it was a nurse, or a doctor who was planning to check on Matt. Who had run into them?

It wasn’t either.

“You made it,” Jack said softly. 

She looked up to him, eyes glazed like water covered glass, bags under her eyes. She had a pleading look on her face.

“You didn’t an-”

“Plane.” Was all she said, “I felt- I felt like I needed to be here for-” Her eyes moved so they glue to Mike for a few moments, and then she stood on her toes to try and get a look at Matt.

Jack stepped aside to let her into the room. She rushes over and with unsure hands gently caresses Matt's face, presses their foreheads together.

“I’m so sor-” She couldn’t finish her words.

Jack didn’t even ask; he knew Maggie had her ways of just knowing when she was needed.

He walked back into the room some more after making sure the door closed without a sound.

“It's not your fault for not being here.”

“If I-”

“They were just playing, and they got too close.”

He shifts Mike once again to grab her hand.

“I already had this conversation with Mikey.” He said quietly, rubbing his thumb over her small hand. She turns back to the two of them.

Almost gracefully she cupped the side of his face and looked into his eyes, a bit mournfully. She uses her other hand to carefully brush Mike’s hair. His face now in the crook of Jack's neck.

“How long,” Jack said, not wanting to but knowing he had to ask.

She gave him a painful look. He didn’t push.

“I will try to stay longer; I know I just have-”

“It’s okay.” He tried to say sweetly.

She didn’t know what to say to that.

“I was thinking-” Jack added after a second.

“You shouldn’t think.” She tried to tease, a little smile etching her face.

“I was thinking about going with you. Let the boys see- “He couldn’t get the words out now. It was like he was navigating a field of landmines. He just looked at Maggie's face, then his eyes darted over her shoulder to Matt fast asleep in the hospital bed, looking so small. Mike suddenly felt much heavier in his arms.

“What it’s like.” Maggie finished for him. He just nodded.

“Jack you never enjoyed it there.”

“That was before I got to know people, I liked it when you started talking to me. And there was May, Edward and- and.” He tried to tell her but stopped not being able to go on with that look she is giving him.

“If the Fates allow it.” She said airily, running her thumb over his cheek with the hand still holding his face.

He gave her a small smile. “Don’t think I'm in their good graces.” He looked to the window, momentarily not able to really look anywhere else. His mind was getting too full. He could feel his heart speed up over all the memories.

“You know... they read all those stories too. Over and over. It is like you are there with them. I know how much you loved them. I know they are thinking about you too.”

They didn’t talk for a long minute in the quiet room. Just them and the boys. And the clock on the wall ticking and ticking the time away as they get closer to 2 in the morning.

Maggie returned the small smile. “I will-”

“You don-“

“I’m going to try Jonathan.”

He just looked down to look at her.

“Just- if I can't... can you make sure- make sure they don’t go into the water again. Before I can be there.” Maggie said, emotions trying to stop her words from coming out.

Jack can see she had the urge to look back at Matt, his heart sinking a bit at the idea of her leaving so soon. But he knows not to push her.

He knows somewhere in his brain that she will probably be back on the plane before the morning light shines on the horizon.

He just tried not to think about her flying back alone, all by herself on a packed plane. He tries not to think if she will have the window seat and stare out of it as they fly over the ocean. Would she have the middle seat because she is tiny? Get awkward when asking the person in the aisle seat if she could get out, to walk up and down the plane? Or would she have the aisle seat herself and watch the people up and down the rows, looking at the people hanging off the armrests.

He tried to break himself out of his brain. And he put on a soft look for her. “I was just about to go- but I can stay if you want me. You can have time with both of them then. I can grab some more coffee, call in-” It was that look again that stopped him. The look behind her eyes, she was fighting her own demons as they spoke in whispering tones.

_ You’re using up her time Jack, stop talking for once, _ his brain screamed.

“Stay here with Matt.” He said instead “You aren’t picking one over the other, I got Mikey.”

Her lips pinched into a thin line, eyes watering, turning a bit red.

“M-” She brushes some more of his hair and she tries to place a kiss on his head, but just gets to about his ear. “I told you, I-” She tried again but it was like she didn’t have enough air for her words.

“I know. It is going to be okay though, you will see. We will figure something out,” He gives her a charming little smile

“The Murdocks will find a way, I know that for sure.” She said as she did her final touches and slowly let go of them.

Jack was already feeling so cold without her hand on his cheek.

They give one last smile to each other before Jack takes a step back, he turns slowly back to the door.

He lingered in the doorway for a moment watching as Maggie hurried over to Matt’s side to sit with him. Doing the same little touches to him, as she had done with Mikey.

He holds Mike tighter, Mike cuddles closer. He walks out into the hospital hallway. It was too clean and cold like the whole building was holding its breath but it didn’t know what for. The feeling sticks to Jack as he walks out and down into the subway to go home. Home to one empty bed, that will sit there like it was burning holes in the floor until it’s full again.

==

As much as they all wanted to act as if nothing had changed, in reality, everything had. There was no more talk of the fae, of the sea, and the land that the boys seemingly long for. It was magical tales replaced with late nights of homework, essays, history, and English. They just kept themselves busy.

It was filled with fights and more fights; fights in the ring, Jack spitting out blood, fights on the playground, teachers pulling one of the twins by the collar off of another kid, knuckles bloody. There were fights with words on the papers. Hands trying to read with nimble fingers, heads scratching. There were words that tried to escape, ones that were left unsaid from tongues not able to speak.

There were struggles, the boys trying to stay together, and get away from each other. Jack trying to be there and trying to keep the water running. He tried to keep them all close.

For a time, it seemed they just kept getting bad news. Among the abundant bills, report cards, and progress reports he got a letter. It told of his grandmother in Ireland, the one he barely knew passing. He mourned for her nonetheless, for if not the person herself, he mourned for the person he didn’t get to know.

But one of her last wishes was a gift, that would greatly benefit them. The letter also told of the lighthouse she had lived in. The one Jack had stayed in when he visited for the summer, she wanted Jack to have it if he wanted it. His mind leapt to what this could mean for them.

It could mean the boys had a fresh start, it means they would have more room, and he wouldn’t have to worry about them walking around the city by themselves. 

He also thought of Maggie, thought about the boys actually getting to meet her for real, and getting to know her.

When Jack brought up the idea, there were harsh voices, uneaten food, early bedtimes. He got one kid on board and the other- he made it sound like Jack was stabbing him in the back and throwing away their home.

It made everything hurt watching the tears run down his eyes. But Jack thought he was doing what was best for them. He wanted the boys to meet new people, not be stuck in their little bubble, and the option to talk with people who don’t look less of them because of all their fights.

Jack thought it would help his sons.

==

Jack can tell Matt hates it here in the same ways he can tell that Mike loves it.

Jack knew when he had to walk along cold flooring to close the back door that was left open in the early morning, getting a peek of a redhead in a striped sweater sitting on the cliff looking out to the sea at the rising sun.

He also had to open the bedroom door on another redhead. One who was layered in blankets, head barely peeking from them and hand holding on to a book that was slipping onto the floor.

He knew In the way that Mike was a social butterfly and Matt only really talked to the baker at the little store.

In the ways that he had to call up the stairs for a young teen to slink down them, and how he had to call out the back door for the other, stopping him before he tracked mud into the house.

He knows in his soul that it will get better, he just has to give them time. They have a few weeks to get used to this new environment before they start school. 

They will love it.

They all will love it.

==

Matt begrudgingly opened his eyes to the new morning. He curled into his blanket some more taking in the warmth it gave. He closed his eyes again, remembering the book he was reading last night.

_ His book! _

He leaned over the bed to feel around for it, he ran his hand over the cover. And then finger through some of the pages, feeling the braille.

He planned on reading it some more before his stomach growled. He threw the covers off, getting a hit of cold air. He pushed himself up and swung his legs over. Sock feet touching the floor. He got dressed and with a book in one hand and the other on the wall he walked down the stairs slowly.

As he went down, he started to hear voices down the stairs.

“Mikey be careful with those.”

“I’m care-'' There was a loud crash.

Matt stopped at the last step on the stairs. Unhappy look on his face.

“Matty, you're up. Sorry did we wake you?”

“No, I've been up a while.” A lie.

“Don’t come over here, there is glass all over. Mikey, go help you-” Dad started to call from his spot from the kitchen, concern in his voice but Matt cut him off.

“I got it, dad,” Matt said as he kept to the wall avoiding the kitchen and going to the couch in the living room. He was just about to sit down when Jack started talking.

“Mikey, don’t come over here either, I don't want you to get hurt too,” Dad said still with concern.

“All good, am going outside.” Mike’s shoelaces clicked on the tiles as he ties them.

“Good idea… Hey, why not you take Matty with you.” Dad added.

“No,” Matt said simply and quickly.

“Don’t be a party pooper, it's nice outside,” Mike commented, teasing him.

“No, it’s cold.” He tried to argue.

“It's not that cold. Come on.” Mike played with the lock to the door, the lock making a loud thud echo the room.

“It’s good to get some fresh air occasionally, Matty. Just go out for a bit and then when you are done this will be cleaned up and I will have breakfast ready.” Dad told him calmly Matt could hear him opening probably the little closet to get the broom to start cleaning.

“What about my book?” Matt tried.

“You can bring your book too. Don’t worry.” Mike calls over to Matt from his spot by the back door.

Matt set his book down on the couch and walked over to Mike trying to make it as slow and painful as he could. But right when Matt got to the door. After grabbing his cane and his shoes. Mike opened it for him, he then stepped out and was off like a rocket going down to the beach. Matt bet he was taking the stairs from the lighthouse two at a time. Matt went slowly.

Matt stood their cane in hand, the tip sinking into the loose sand. He held his head up to the wind. Taking in the breeze of the salty air. The cold tickled his face, but he resisted the need to run his hands along his sweater.

There was a little hiss.

“Mikey! What happened?” He didn’t move, he just turned his head towards where Mike should be, so he could yell that way. Being unsure how far the sea had braved the beach, so he was slightly unwilling to move forward. Mike already fought him to come down here and Matt very much doesn’t want to add seawater to his already sand-filled shoes.

“Nothing Matty, I’m fine,” Mike said with strain in his voice.

Matt didn’t believe him.

“What happened? Did you get hurt? You went into the water, didn’t you?” Matt asked with worry in his voice. He made a move to the rock where Mike left his shoes, his hand stretching out a bit in front of his body. “Dad said not to go into the water.”

“Matty,” Mike complained.

“Mikey.” Matt echoed.

“It was only a couple of inches.” Was his argument.

“Dad said-”

“Yes, but it wasn’t that deep, and am pretty sure that rule was for you.”

“No. it was for you, I don't even go into water.”

“It's the principle, dad said it as he doesn’t want you to get hurt again and if he tells both of-” Mike stopped.

Matt went silent as Mike realized what he was implying. They didn’t say another word. Matt stood there as Mike put his socks and shoes back on. Mike made little noises as he did so.

Matt turned to leave. Feeling the fire in his gut rage.

“Hey, where are you going?” Mike called after him.

“I’m going back.”

“Wait for me, I’ll help you.”

“I am fine Mikey”

“Matt!”

He was almost to the door when he hears Mike finally reach him, his loud steps hard to miss as he races up the stairs.

“Matt, stay there am still finishing up sweeping” Jack called to him as he opened the front door.

Mike knocked into him. He stepped aside, unfazed at this point.

“I thought you two were going down to the beach while I did this?” there the thud of heavy plastic banging against each over, getting the last of the glass into the bin.

“We did that?” Matt answered a bit harshly.

“I know you want to say it, I know you want to, say I was an idiot.” There was the sound of Mike hitting the couch.

“Wha-t” Matt guesses Dad's final turned to see Mike, his sock probably has soaked up some of his blood from his foot. “Mike you need to go clean that good. The kit is in the bathroom.”

“I got it. What do you want me to do with-”

“Just put them in the washer I will wash them”

“Matt are you-“ Dad asked, pausing mid-sentence, Matt guessed dad was trying to scan to see if he got hurt too.

“He’s just mad. It's fine, he’ll get over it.” no one said a word all except Mike, his voice was getting a bit farther away, from him going up the stairs. But he was loud like always so Matt could hear him clearly “I told him how you told both of us not to go into the water so he didn’t feel bad about being scared to go in. You know the whole thing of if one twin can’t the-”

“Mike! Stop that’s not true” Dad said stonily.

“He’s fine though, he didn’t even touch the water,” Mike said as a matter of fact.

There was another moment of silence. There weren’t any squeaking stairs, so Mike wasn’t moving either.

“Matty,” Dad said as if offering an olive branch.

“I’m leaving,” Matt said coolly, done with this conversation.

“Matt-” Dad tried again.

Matt just turned and close the front door as he left.

Matt walked into town, wanting to get away from his family. He had yet to really learn the town. Just going out only when needed or when Jack made him. He thought of the map in his head he did know of.

The bakery jumped to the forefront of his brain. He patted the jacket he grabbed before he left the 2nd time. He was lucky as he found some money in his pocket, keeping his one hand in the pocket, running his fingers over the coins hoping there would be something he could get for the change he had in his pocket.

It wasn’t long after that, Matt found his way to the little church in the town. After he got a snack, he asked for directions. He’s sitting in one of the pews upfront in the empty little church when someone came up to him.

“Are you here for one of the services?” A gentle voice said politely.

“I don’t know when they have the services. I just came for a place to clear my head.” Matt said, trying to stay calm, to not think of this morning, but even with that, he felt his blood start to heat. He didn’t want to flat out say he wanted to be left alone. He’s already thinking a lot and needs some time away from his family.

“I just finished this morning’s chores; would you mind if I sit with you here? This is usually where I sit.” The kind sounding person said.

Matt didn’t know what to say. “Um, I can move. I just- just didn't know where to go.” He made a move to get up grabbing his cane tighter and pushing himself up a bit from the pew.

“No, no, stay there. You must have had a reason you came here. So that’s reason enough for you to stay.” The sister told him calmly, trying to be reassuring and gentle. Matt rested himself down and leaned back ever so slightly. The sister moved to take a reasonable seat next to him.

They sat there for a tiny bit in silence. Both doing their own thing, their own thinking and praying. until she spoke.

“Did you go to church a lot before you moved out here?”

Matt debated not answering her:he just wanted to get away from people. He’s only really talked to his family for these past few weeks, so the idea of him willing to just talk and share with this stranger is a bit out there.

When he thought about it, he realized it would be rude not to. “We went on Sundays. But then other times if I can get a way, I would sometimes go and sit in the pews.

The sister just hummed, agreeing. “It can be calming.”

There was another long moment before the Sister spoke again. “Are you enjoying the town so far?”

“I don’t know,” Matt said plainly, just trying to say something.

“You don’t know?”

“I haven’t really gone out. I guess I’m- I’m just homesick. I thought we were okay in New York and I just wanted to stay there.” Matt said it in a bit of a whisper, finally saying what had been rolling in his mind.

He thought he did something wrong as the slightly talkative Sister fell silent after that confession. 

“I know this can be hard on everyone. I had my own share of homesickness before. Soon you will find something you love about this small town and you will have another anchor-.”

“But I don't want to be here, I want to go home,'' Matt said, leftover emotions making him cut her off without meaning too. He was just tired of his dad trying to tell him that too. that he’ll love it here soon enough. When dad also doesn’t like it here.

Dad doesn’t seem to realize they’re old enough to notice how Jack stays in the house too when he can. He rarely goes into the town. Dad gets enough food for a week and then after he comes back from the docks, he just lets out a sigh and sits with them for a bit before he does anything else. Matt doesn’t need every person in this town to say he will love it too.

The sister waited patiently for Matt to finish. When he was done, she went on. “New York will always be your home. It is a place to go back to. But here your family has history. It will take time, but you can set roots here for the time being, and then when you are old enough to move by yourself then you can figure out where you want to go, where you want to stay.”

Matt just sat and took in her words. Not knowing entirely what to say to that.

“Your dad used to come here in the summers, it took him a little bit to get used to it too. But he grew to love it and waited until he could come back.”

Matt didn’t say anything, now wanting to know a bit more.

“We were friends back then and we have chatted a bit since he has come back.”

Matt swished his head a bit. This was new information that he didn’t know about dad, that he had friends here, let alone been talking to some of them since coming back.

“He told me how you and your brother liked to read books on mythology and magic. This town is full of old stories just like that. It has its little world if you believe in it.”

Matt frowned a bit at her words. “I haven’t read that stuff in a few years.”

“You still like the stories, don’t you?” She asked with a little tilt to her words. Matt didn’t know if it was some type of sorrow or understatement of her once being the same way.

It made him falter a bit with his own words.

I don’t-” Matt stopped himself, he didn’t want to get into a loop of ‘I don’t know’s.’

“I remember liking them, though.” He added while dipping his head slightly, remembering how Mike and he would stay up each night sometimes getting away with it and other times dad walking in, pulling the covers off and tickling them. He remembers reading the stories over and over, acting out some of the scenes with Mike by his side.

He remembers how after he could read in braille without a problem, he slipped one of those fae books into his mountain of books to check out. He could feel the faint memory now of how the bumps felt on those pages. He recalled how when he got to the story of the selkie he ran his hand over the dots for the title too many times, to the point of not being able to remember how long he sat there doing it.

He sat there just recounting how Mike and him wanted to be selkies. 

He read that story, that story until he got to that part of the selkie wanting to go back to the sea. 

He just closed the book, unable to finish it. 

Remembering the pain of that day, how it was burned into his mind. The flash of ice-cold water, the itching of salt and whatever was in the water, the panic of trying to breathe, and then the quick hit to his head. He didn’t remember hearing anything when it happened, just the hit running through his body.

It all happened so fast but yet it felt so long. His brain started to fog, and he closed his eyes to try and stop the pain but then he felt people pulling him out, people yelling.

But over all of that, he heard soft words, whispered like a song into his mind. 

_ “Not yet little selkie.” _

That’s what did it, that’s what made, the sea was too much for him to handle. When he got close to the sea, the little hairs on his neck stood up and his shoulders tightened. He couldn’t finish that story, he couldn’t finish that book, he closed it and never reopened it. It went back to the library and Matt didn’t read anything else about the fae, he didn’t try to think about them and whenever Mikey started to talk about them, he would get up and leave.

There was a slight ruffle of clothes, the Sister next to him probably shifted in the seat. Then there was a light hum that proceeded something that sounded more like a statement than a question. “Well, to pass this time, Would you like to hear a story?”

He really didn’t. With what she had told him of the town he knew what was coming now. What she’s been dying to tell him

“Sure,” Matt said politely.

“Have you heard of selkies?” She asked him in what now sounded like a questioning voice.

“Read about them when I was a kid.” He answered. Fighting the demon that lived in his mind. This person didn’t know about that. How could she? She just wants to share a small part of the town with him. Get him to want to stay here.

“You are still a kid.” She said chastising him.

“Older kid.” Matt corrected. Trying to sound calm, giving nothing away.

She gave that an airy laugh.

The Sister cleared her throat slightly before she started “Well this story is about a young selkie. Her feet dirty with the mud of her land, a spirit that blazes just as bright and hot as the sun. And a personality just like the tide. Calm and gentle with an understated power waiting to crash against the rocks. But this story starts when this young selkie falls in love.”

“She fell in love with a young man, the man felt the ocean in his bones, the pull of the moon, he longs to be a part of a world he never knew, a world that he never knew he was a part of. This young man also had the blood of the sea in his veins. But he had no pelt, no coat, no cape he could dawn and change before your eyes.”

“That man would gaze upon the horizon, the sands, and the rocks below him every day until one day he spotted the young selkie walking, jumping over the boulders by the caves, made from the base of the Cliff. The selkie looked up and noticed the man. They only needed a smile, a quick of their lips to know.”

“The man rushed down risking the cliff face to try and get a glance of the selkie. feeling a pull stronger than any riptide. But the selkie was very shy and she hid from the selkies who had no coat. This went on until one day the man didn’t risk his life on the rocks, and instead yelled over the waves, over the birds in the sky, over the love that raged on.”

“He asked for a name. This was foolish as he didn’t know the power of names, she gave him a name, not hers but a name none the least. In exchange, he whispered his name along the salty breeze so only she could hear, for only her to hold close to her heart.”

“This went on for many moons until the selkie who dreamed her future, was told of many paths to her life, saw a new possibility, one that hadn't been foreseen and she wanted to know what it looked like in his eyes.”

“So, she climbed the rocks ignoring the cuts that let blood seep onto the stones up the cliff. She just knew she had to return the favor as if the selkie without a coat could face the cliff without protection then she could as well.”

“When she reached the top, her love was there to pull her up into his arms, she was able to feel his hands, the stories they hold and gaze into his eyes that were the doors to his kind soul. She smiled for him.”

“But the selkie acted too late, for that would have been their last meeting on that cliff-“

“Did the man take her away from that cliff?” Matt asked as she told him the story.

“No, the man was set to leave for the faraway land, he was there that day to tell her. But the selkie couldn’t let that be and did what she did best, she followed her heart, and she went after him, she followed him.”

“They tried to live in this new land. They tried to make it work but the selkie still felt the pull of the moon, of the seas, the fire burning in her soul. All the same feelings that had long since died in the man, as his soul didn’t need a pull to a place it cannot be”

“Did she leave him?” Matt cut in again thinking he knew where this was going, but the Sister seemed to be instilled in her story. It was like she wasn’t just telling him, it was like she  _ needed _ to tell him.

“She made the hardest decision she could perhaps make, with no guidance, a plan made without the Fates. She left him but not before an important conclusion, as she set to leave him with a treasure. She gifted him her own coat, a sign of her return and of her willingness to go back to where the magic still runs free, but because the man can’t go with her back into the sea, she wouldn’t leave the way he couldn’t follow.”

“Did she ever see him again? In stories, they say selkies leave forever once they get their coat back, so what happened from her leaving it?” Matt tried again, wanting to know the end.

The Sister let out a sigh, probably because he kept interrupting, but she went on. “The selkie did this as she wanted him to remember her in a way. He would never know in what ways she would return. 

The sister paused after that, like she got pricked by a thorn she didn’t know that sentence hid. She stopped to take a breath in, she may have needed time to think of what happened next, with Matt disturbing the flow of her story.

“But to answer your question.” She started.

“Yes, she saw him again, she would visit him. They would meet with another call over the wind and another name aside their own being said and when she would leave again, she would leave him another gift, another Treasure. Gifts that he didn’t always understand but ones he prized as they were gifts from her. Because in those few days they loved each other more than any number of years they could have had together-“

“But.” Matt cut in yet again getting a sense that they were getting to the end.

“But?” She echoed.

“There is always a ‘but’, but one of them dies and the other would never know, something like that, you said they walked without the Fates on their side so it's going to end in some tragedy.”

“That is true about most stories, but this story is Special, as it doesn't have an end. Some say it is lost just as the two lovers lost their way to each other. Some say there is still a selkie trying to find her love, to treasure a few more moments with him, each time she goes getting shorter and shorter, as the Fates had found them and made their judgment. Others take the story as it is and look to it for guidance when they don’t know where they are going. They look to the lovers who face decisions most wouldn’t dare to face. But some also look to it to remember sometimes you don’t get a happy end, even though you may shine brighter than the stars above. Sometimes you are just a part of a story that is older than time, and you would never see the end too.”

Matt sat there, trying to understand. Of all the stories she could have told him, the Sister had to pick this one about a selkie. Matt opened his mouth to ask her a question, to ponder out loud his ideas and his thoughts over this story, When they were interrupted by another sister calling to the one next to him.

She offered pleasantries and went on her way. 

Matt sat there, thinking of the story on his own and until he got up and decided to go home.

==

“How's your foot?” Matt asked Mike, hearing his door creak open, without a knock like when dad would come in.

“It’s better,” Mike said simply.

“I’m sorry.” He then added.

Matt just let the words float around the room. He knew what his twin meant, Matt’s hand trying to make its way to his book he been trying to finish, thinking that was all.

Matts hears Mike drag a blanket over the hardwood, the slight swishing filling the space.

The next thing Matt knew there was the squeaking of his mattress and Mike getting on his bed, he set his book down.

“Yes?” Matt tried to ask, wanting to know what was going on with Mike. But he just drapes a soft blanket over their shoulders. 

A soft blanket that Matt has not touched in almost a year, but he still remembers exactly how it feels against his skin. “You packed this?”

“Yeah, I packed it. I didn’t know if you still wanted to use it so I put it with my things. It's not like we were ever going to get rid of this.” Mike pulls the blanket around them. He pulls their selkie blanket around them.

“We both can barely fit under this together now.”

“You think?” Mike said teasing. Matt chuckle at him lightly.

“Here, you can have the honors then.” Mike moved the blanket, so it fell over Matt’s shoulders better.

Matt hesitates momentarily and then he grips the blanket tighter around himself. A small smile walking over his face. He remembers the selkie from the Sister’s story; he wonders what her coat would have looked like. Did it look just like a seal’s skin? Was it a coat, or like a cloak?

“Mikey?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you still want to be a selkie?”

“You’ll laugh at me. So, no, that’s my answer.”

“I’m taking that as a yes, then,” Matt said in a sing-song voice.

“Noooo.” Mike groaned there was a pause and then he felt Mike lightly hit Matt with Matt's own pillow.”

“Hey!” Matt tried to duck his head.

“Hey, is for horses.” Mike joked.

“That’s my line!” Matt called back, hand trying to feel for something to try and hit Mike back, he was close enough, knees touching so it wouldn’t be that hard to hit him. His hand brushes his book and just for seconds his mind flashed the idea, but Matt tried to find something else. His hand reached the stuffed sheep that was on his side table he turned and to use it to hit Mike.

He laughed.

Bullseye.

“I see you two made up,” Dad called from the door.

Mike stopped his attack, Matt didn’t. “who said we made up?”

Mike laughed at that and hit Matt back with the pillow.

Dad let out a teasing sigh, Matt knowing he would have added a shaking head. “Well, you know, if you made up, I  _ was _ going to make pancakes tomorrow…”

The boys stopped

“With syrup?” they said simultaneously.

“Yes.” His words were what a smile sounded like.

“We’re good, made up and everything, we’re even on talking terms.” Mike leans over and gives Matt a hug for show.

“Good night, don’t say up too late you two.” Dad called from the door.

“We won’t!” they called.

“I don’t believe you two,” Dad called from down the hall; they laugh at the tease.

Mike let go of Matt. “Have we made up?”

“Yes.” That was all Matt said, thinking that was all he needed to say.

They settled for a moment, not really knowing what to do.

“Did you know the town has its own Selkie story?” Matt’s attempt at getting Mike to talk.

Mike brightens “What? Tell me!”

“Fine,” Matt said with fake annoyance.

Mike leaned on Matt, head resting on his shoulder, trying to be funny. And Matt told him the story the Sister told him.

====

Mike felt consciousness wash over him, it picked at his eyes. He opened them slowly, he found himself looking up to the ceiling. He tried to pull his blanket over himself some more, but it was stuck. He looked over to see Matty was partly laying on top of it. He remembers how they stayed up talking, they haven't done that in a few years.

A little smile made its way onto his face.

Then he felt it. A feeling rushed through his bones, to the bottom of his soul. He could feel it.

He turned to wake Matty to figure out what the gut feeling was, to see if he was feeling it too. He wanted to know if he was really feeling this or if it was something he ate. There was a tried groan, Matt turned over in his sleep. Then he did another roll the other way. Matt sat up.

“Mikey?”

“Do you feel that?” Mike asked.

They were soft at first, so soft that one might have thought they had imagined a tune making its way through the air. It was light but when they didn’t speak, they could hear it through the window. There were soft waves and a little humming, then there was quiet barking.

Mike jerked, he moved like he needed to get up. Like if he didn’t get up out of bed, he would be missing out on something important. He jumped up from the bed not even bothering with looking for anything. But then Matt broke him out of his trance.

“You heard that too?”

Mike turned to Matt, he was fisting his blanket. Mike thought that it sounded like a lullaby, something to comfort you in a time of worry. He wanted to go out and find it, the feeling in the back of his head was telling him he will find something. He will find a missing piece of himself.

It sounded like, well...

It sounded like home.

But looking at Matt and hearing his shaky voice, seeing his hand trying to grab on to the blanket like he needed to ground himself. Mike doesn’t know if Matt hears a warning instead of a sweet melody. Waves crashing roughly onto the cliff and not a light voice among the salty breeze.

Mike took a chance to look at the doorway of the room.

“I feel like I have to go. That we have to go. Go out there.”

Matt tried to speak but Mike cut him off. “You don’t have to go, but it's calling me. Pulling my heart in a direction that I have to go, and if I don't it will be like I'm betraying myself. It feels like my whole world right now is counting on me going down there. To finally see what the sea needs me for. To finally hear the words that the sea is calling me with-”

“I’ll go with you.”

Mike zoned onto Matt, not realizing his eyes had drifted to the window that let him get a peak of the waves, the shore touching the sand.

They made their way slowly but surely down to the sea. Slipping out the back door with the quieter lock. They didn’t put on their shoes, they grabbed no coats, they didn’t want to miss the song that they were hearing. The only thing they grabbed was their selkie blanket. The blanket just barely allowed them to wrap both of themselves in and walk.

They walked confidently along the small shore, sand and little rocks digging into their feet. The lullaby didn’t get any louder, but it got clearer, if not in the words, the sounds and the instruments did, The waves and the life around the shore having their own part to play, and it rung in their ears,

Mike kept leading them closer and closer to the sound, to the song, to the sea.

Then all at once when they touched the water, the song stopped.

Stopped like there was nothing there to begin with.

Mike can feel Matt's fight for breath. He could imagine his ribs tightened around his lungs. Mike’s own doing the same for a different reason. Mike can see it on Matt’s face, his mouth slightly open, eyebrows lifting, the shock of the water touching his feet.

Matt adjusted his grip on Mike’s arm “This was a bad idea, Mikey.”

Mike knows he should agree with him. As they spoke the cut on his feet started to open again, and it stung with the salty water seeping in.

But he looked out to the waves, seeing the horizon with the rays shining with the moonlight from the cloudless night sky and he thought he saw them.

Thought he saw seals.

Thought he saw the selkies.

He can still feel it. It was small now, the ghost of a feeling, but it was still there. He tries to hold on to it. They are so close to it, to knowing.

“It’s just. I can feel it, Matty. they’re selkies.”

Matt takes another step for Mike into the water. The ice-cold waves brush their calves, their pajamas soaking up the water.

Mike felt it on his tongue. Like he knew the words to the song that had been sung. 

Like it was written in his soul.

But they too slipped away, like they didn’t want him to say them. But he wanted to call out, to say something to the sky alone if he must. He just needed the right word.

“Mom?”

Mike called out in a shaky voice feeling a bit silly. But like he still had to do it. Like, somehow that single word was the right one or at last the one that he needed to say now. To say in this moment.

“Mom!” Matt echoed Mike’s words.

Mike was taken aback by Matt. they shared a breath and then together they called out again to the sea.

“Mom!”

“Boys” A voice low, steady, coming from a place of caring.

Another wave crashed into them; Matt held on as Mike looked back to where the voice had come from. Only to see a woman there.

“Get out of the water.” She spoke again, voice still steady but there was a hint of worry etching the words.

“Mikey?” Matty asked softly. They were close enough, so it was a whisper of a question. Mike looked again at the figure. It was dark so he couldn't make out her face, it was also covered by a cloak that wrapped around her shoulders.

She was walking down to them. The lighthouse sent out bright beams to light the way over the sea. But even with the light, Mike couldn’t see her face, only a few strands of dark hair peeking out from her hood.

“I think we should listen to her,” Matty said. Mike continued to stare.

“But-”

“She has lived here longer than us, if she said get out of the water then we should do so.”

Mike looked back out to the ocean. It looked so empty now and the Sun was starting dawn. The waves went out and came in, and they only pulled harder. 

“Boys!” The woman breathed again. “It’s dangerous.”

Mike took a deep breath, feeling like he was too late. Like he was giving in and missed out. He turned them both to make a move to the woman where it was safe.

The woman let out a small sigh and Mike thought she said a little thank you. Glad they had listened. Mike didn’t know what to do now without being in the water, so he walked towards her.

Mike could feel Matt relax his grip when they got far enough so the waves couldn’t reach and grab their ankles.

When they got close enough the woman cupped their faces. One in each hand, a thumb running over their cheeks gently. With eyes now more suited for the coming morning, Mike tried to see once again what she looked like. See if he had maybe seen her on one of his walks through town.

“You have grown, both of you.” She whispered under her breath; Mike had to strain to hear her. Her hand slid down and onto their shoulders. She put her light hands on their blanket.

Mike was about to object but the words couldn't make it out of his throat, there was another feeling in his bones once again washing over him. The whisper in his ears returned. He just watched as she lifted the blanket up and with an effortless twist of her wrists, she threw it over her own shoulders. It settled in the same place as her own cloak.

Mike kept staring but for a different reason now. At this moment Mike was staring up at the seal head that rested on top of her head.

Mike’s mind started to fog. That wasn’t their blanket. Their blanket didn’t have a face.

“Mikey?” Matt said softly to Mike.

But Mike didn’t know what to say to him “She is... She’s a Selkie Matty. She turned our blanket into a coat? How- How?”

“How?” Matty tried with him but the woman just petted their heads, resting just a second over their ears, and made a move around them.

“Soon, my children.” She whispered; Mike watched as she walked into the very water she was trying to get them out of. He watched as she walked calmly and proudly, like she was the one going home to open arms. She walked until the only thing that was left of her that Mike could see, was the top of her head. To where the head of the seal sat. It turned and Mike came face to face with not a person but an actual seal.

_ This couldn’t be real. _

Mike made the mistake of breaking away from Matty. He rushed after the woman.

He wants to know what she did. He wants to know who she is. He wants to go with her.

“Mikey!” Matt yelled after him. But even though Mike heard his brother, Mike didn't listen.

==

Mike felt like he was floating, drifting weightlessly in the water, the cold seeping in through his clothes, making him feel it in his bones.

Then the weightlessness settles like he was easing back into the world, back into bed. He felt his icy toes rubbing against the others. He could feel the warm blanket being draped over him, it grounded him, embracing him so he wouldn’t float away.

He tightened his eyes, wanting to go back, wanting to relive his dreams, about Mom, about the selkies, about the sea.

There was a feather-light touch on his knuckles, something smooth being slipped in his hands, string slowly wrapping around his fingers, he almost instinctively and sleepily caressed it, arms pulling into himself, his body curling around it.

There was another light touch. Like one of dad’s late-night kisses.

But this was different, as there wasn’t just a whispered ‘good night’, a brush of his hair behind his ear, a kiss on his forehead.

There was a soft touch, fingertips moving through his hair, pushing it back, the gentle pressure feeling relaxing, and then in a quiet voice like it was Mike’s own mind whispering it into his ears.

“I love you.”

Then the warmth, the closeness of someone you didn’t know was there, left his side. No heavy steps trying to be light. Just air sweeping over wood.

Mike wanted to get up, throw the covers off. See what was happening but he couldn’t open his eyes. The pull to sleep was so strong.

But still, he fought, and in return, he won a sliver of the daydreaming world and through sleep fog eyes. He saw a figure standing by Matt, also bending slowly and surely to him, whispering a secret just for their ears.

His eyelids were weighing him down like sandbags, Mike was forced to close them, as he was seeing something not meant for his eyes. But not before he watched blurry as the figure turned to go, brown tail swishing as they went.

The image left one last thought in his head before his dreams took him back under. One single word that hides a whole world waiting for him and Matty to find.

_ Selkie. _

He held the smooth object even tighter to himself, and with his mouth slightly open in a little happy smile.

He let the dreams take him back.

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to explain it here but you can just look it up too, but the fairy Matt and Mike were talking about when they were little is the legend of “the fairy flag of macleod.” One version I heard is a king and fairy fall in love, had a son, and the fairy got called back to the fairy lands and she left them a special flag that would call the fairies if they were ever needed and it supposedly to this day has one used left. The other version of that legend I hear is the same but the fairy could only be with the man for a year and a day and when she had to leave she asked for her son to be never left alone to cry, the kingdom try to cheer the king up because he was sad of her leaving and they left the son alone when having a party. And the fairy came back to calm him herself, that is when she gave him the flag. I think that is the only minor legend that some people might not know in this story, but I just heard these over and over so I might not think about it. So you can ask if you have any questions.


End file.
